


Nine Lives

by frostings



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, kakasaku - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 09:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3062909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostings/pseuds/frostings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi and Sakura lose time in different lives. Short AUs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nine Lives

**1 - Late**

He first hoped to meet her, as some people did, on a blind date.

Genma’s been haranguing him for weeks about this girl. “ _Come on, man, she’s really pretty, and really nice”,_ his friend said, that toothpick perennially sticking out of his mouth.

_“If you’re so enthusiastic about this girl, why don’t YOU date her, Genma?”_  Kakashi remembered asking as he reached over and pulled that annoying toothpick out of Genma’s annoying mouth. He remembered Genma’s forced nonchalance, which only meant one thing: Genma HAD had tried, and failed.

 

_“Not my type.”_ Genma had said. As expected, it sounded like an excuse.

But certainly there had been something in the girl that has convinced Genma that it would be nice idea—no, a GREAT idea, to send Kakashi on a blind date on. Considering that Genma’s never gone out of his way to play matchmaker before, Kakashi had to concede and agree to it, if only to shut Genma up.

And he’s really regretting it now. He’s only realized a few hours before that he didn’t have any clean shirts and had to hurriedly do laundry. He’d gone overboard and rushed through the whole process, and now he’s reeking of laundry detergent soap. Strange. It wasn’t like him to be so self-conscious.

Genma hadn’t been very forthcoming with what this Sakura girl is like, only the repeated reiterations of being “nice” and “pretty” which made Kakashi pretty sure that she was probably met minimum requirements and that he was probably going to regret being here at all.

All thoughts of what she was like dwindled into boredom until it began to build up to a realization that he had been sitting there for nearly an hour with no show of his blind date. The hell? He checked his watch. Five minutes to nine. He looked around. The restaurant was already peopled by couples and groups, most already well into their meals. He felt a faint wave of panic. Had he been stood up? The panic was quickly replaced by a sense of indignation. How could she? After he’d gone with all the trouble of doing laundry when he didn’t feel like doing laundry!

Already building up this indignation in his mind, Kakashi angrily motioned for a waiter. The waiter, a tall young man with a mess of bright yellow hair, approached with a smile.

Kakashi is still fuming with the realization that he’d been stood up. Stood up by a blind date he didn’t even want to go to.  “I’d like to ask for the check please.”

“Of course, sir,” the waiter responded automatically, but instead of leaving to do what Kakashi asked, the younger man hovered, uncertain.

“Yes?” Kakashi barked, eyebrows furrowing.

“I’m sorry sir…were you here on a date?” He can’t believe it. This evening was getting worse and worse.

“And…?”

“Well, there was a young lady who came in an hour before you did sir…” there must have been something his features were doing on its own that was causing the young man to become more and more nervous –as if Kakashi might actually deck him. He was in the mood to.

“She came here at seven o’clock…?!” Kakashi asked, as he mentally counted back the time the waiter was alleging to.

“Er…she was here at eight, sir.”

That couldn’t be right. Kakashi glanced at his watch. It read nine. Suddenly his indignation was replaced by chagrin, and just a little bit of horror. “Can I see your time?”

“Sure, sir.” The waiter presented a bright orange watch with little ramen bowls printed all over it. Kakashi was unable to appreciate its finer points as the watch clearly read: ten o’clock.

His watch must have slowed down, as it sometimes did when its battery was close to dying out. Damn. Damn damn damn damn. He must have sat there with a dazed look on his face for a beat longer than was comfortable, and the waiter began to fidget.

“Sir?”

“Yeah,” he nodded numbly. “I’ll get the check, I guess.”

The waiter nodded smartly. Before he turned to go, Kakashi couldn’t help but call out—

“Waiter?”

The boy paused. “Sir?”

He really hated himself asking. “What did she look like?”

“Oh.” The waiter exhaled, and actually blushed. “Pretty, sir. Gorgeous.” There was something in his voice that suggested that HE wouldn’t have left such a pretty girl waiting.

Kakashi felt his heart drop to his stomach. He disciplined his expression to absolute stoicism and nodded. “Alright, then. Thanks.”

_It’s no big deal,_ he told himself as the waiter walked away.  _No big deal. I’m just going to apologize through Genma and I’m gonna have another date with her, make it up to her somehow… this was all a big mistake._ He couldn’t really explain why he felt so…so…disappointed. He tried to put the feeling under “guilt for accidentally standing up a girl” but it wasn’t. Not really. If he’d known he’d feel this disappointed, well, Kakashi would’ve been more careful. But that was neither here nor there. What’s done was done.

A week later Genma told him that the pink-haired had politely, but definitely, turned down a possibility for another date with Kakashi.

Damn.

**2 – Forbidden**

When he had actually met her, his first thought was:  _Am I in the right place?_

Kakashi stood there in the door in his uniform, an honourable discharge letter in his pack, in his muddy boots and wrinkled uniform as the teenaged girl that answered his knock ambled uncertainly behind a half-open door.

“Yes?” the pink-haired girl asked softly.

He realized he can’t stop looking at her. It was hard to avoid, of course, since she had answered the door but there was something about her…

This WAS his house, wasn’t it? He quickly shifted his thoughts to the matter at hand. This humble two-bedroom affair that looked over the sea that he remembered carrying Rin into before he was shipped off with the rest of the troops. He wondered if Rin had abandoned him, as he heard sometimes soldiers’ girls did, out of boredom or despair or impatience, he never knew. 

“I’m—I’m looking for Rin. I’m—I’m—“ he still had a hard time speaking after that incident.

“Yes, this is her house,” the girl responded. Those green eyes narrowed, and then there was a look of understanding as she widened the door gap. “Are you—are you Kakashi?”

He nodded, and the girl was gone in a flash, yelling her sister’s name throughout the house. And then Rin herself emerged, flour on her cheeks and disbelief in her eyes as she approached.

“Kakashi?”

His tongue suddenly seemed frozen, his body in shock, when he finally saw Rin’s face, as if he were preparing to run into the frontline all over again. Was this a dream? He suddenly wasn’t sure if he was awake or asleep. All he could do was give the tiniest of nods.

“Oh my god…oh my god!” And all at once Rin’s arms are around him, and his pack is on the floor, and just behind his wife is her pink-haired sister, crying. Crying tears of joy for her sister.

“You’re home! I can’t believe it!”

“I’m sorry, I would’ve contacted you sooner but…”

“It’s alright; you’re here and that’s all that matters.” She was always so considerate and strong, his Rin.

“This is Sakura,” Rin finally said as she disentangled herself from him, her brown eyes still wet and disbelieving. Kakashi extends a hand. His mind transported from disbelief to a whole mess of feelings but as he extended his at Rin’s little sister, all he felt at that moment was that same jolt of recognition.

But he’s never met her before.

Something like disappointment were in Sakura’s eyes when she lets go of his hand, but she seems confused when she sees it reflected in his eyes. He doesn’t understand it either.

“She’s going to get married next week, I’m so happy you’ll be here to see it,” Rin went on, oblivious.

**3 – Age Gap**

“I guess, some things just don’t work out,” Sakura sighed, eyes trained on the streets below. Outside, cars zipped through and fro, children were let out of their classes, and people went about their daily lives.

Another failed relationship, another waste of time. She had hoped that Sasuke would take the news of her moving to university well, but he had just very calmly said that it wouldn’t work. Despite her asking him to reconsider, he was just… _mad_ that she had gone ahead with her plans. Had he been expecting any other outcome from her application? In any case, what’s done was done, and all she could do now is look outside and sigh heavily.

Kakashi clambered onto the chair opposite her. She grinned a little when she saw him mimic her dejected posture, slumping onto the table, chin buried into his arms. She was going to miss him.

“Why are you sad?” he asked.

She reached over and ruffled his silver-white hair affectionately. She remembered when she first did that, the way he scrunched up his nose. “Because this is our last day together,” she said softly.

He frowned. “Liar. You broke up with your boyfriend, that’s why.”

Sakura threw back her head and laughed. So smart for a little boy. “Alright. And that,” she admitted wryly.

“I’d marry you,” Kakashi said, pulling out a thread from his sweater. “So you won’t be sad anymore.”

“I’m sure your mum won’t be so keen on the idea, but that is very sweet of you,” Sakura said. “And I’ll be off to Uni tomorrow, I’d meet so many friends, and you’ll have a new nanny too. You might want to marry her better.”

“I hate this,” Kakashi declared. “I always keep missing you.”

“Whatever do you mean, Kakashi?” Sakura said, astonished. She had been the child’s nanny for nearly a year now, six days a week. Maybe he was undergoing some kind of separation anxiety?

But Kakashi remained stubbornly silent for the rest of the day and ignored all overtures of making nice with Sakura.

Before she left, she had insisted on shaking hands, at the very least. Then, when he finally did, Kakashi said the most surprising thing. With a determined little frown, he said: “I’m gonna find you in time, next time. For real.”

“Alright, Kakashi.” Sakura had to placate him somehow. “Alright.”

She never did see Kakashi again. The family had moved to another city by the time the holidays came around.

**4 – Uncovered**

He had reached her just in time.

His face was half-covered—it was just below zero degrees that evening and he had his scarf on. She had forgotten that she was in a city whose streets were oriented the other way around.

Neither of them didn’t even have time to shout, nor scream. His eyes were dark underneath the neon lights.

He merely reached out—and pushed her onto the sidewalk. A screech of tires, a sickening sound of a body breaking, and a heavy thud on the street, and images that would be burned into her mind forever.

Sakura hurried over to the fallen man on the street, ignoring the shouts and the truck driver running over. Frightened tears spilled onto her face as she crouched over him, the man with silver-white hair. He simply gazed up to her and smiled as she cupped his cheek and said goodbye.

**5 – Genius**

She was under strict orders not to speak with any of Tokyo’s pilots.

Sad as it was to see her country divided in such a way, Sakura had worked too long and too hard to risk her standing as the pilot of Kyoto’s first war machine, or a robot, the more popular term adopted by many. Officially, this was to be a conference between two powerful conglomerates racing to complete their first war-capable robot. The space race was nothing compared to the rivalry of Shinseko and Torayami Industries.

“This is our pilot, Haruno Sakura,” Shinseko’s president, Uchiha Itachi was saying.

Jiraiya, the head of Torayami, merely leered at her. “She’s a little bit young, isn’t she, Uchiha-san?”

“We excel early in Kyoto, Jiraiya-san. I believe you made a similar comment when I was elected as president by the Board?” Itachi countered smoothly, nary a trace of irritation on his handsome features.  And he was telling the truth—Sakura had been the top of her class, the best at everything, her whole life. Sakura couldn’t say the same for Jiraiya, however. The man had some unsavoury rumors floating around him that wouldn’t just go away…and  Torayami’s “old age” was going to be highlighted further by the arrival of their own test pilot.

“Hatake! So honoured you could finally join us,” Jiraiya said sarcastically. Torayami’s pilot merely shrugged, and bowed at her and Itachi.

“Hatake Kakashi, at your service,” he said formally. He shook Itachi’s hand,  and then reached out to shake hers. Sakura bowed slightly, and extended hers. But before they could touch, Itachi had steered her away.

“Better not,” the dark-haired man murmured under his breath. “You don’t know what spying device they’d try to attach with that one handshake.”

“But sir…!”

“Just take my word for it, Haruno.”

She threw a glance over her shoulder to look at Hatake. She smiled faintly, and hoped he would see the apology in her eyes. Hatake stood straight and tall, hands behind his back, and nodded ever so slightly. He understood. She felt an inexplicable twinge of regret for meeting this way.

**6 - Forgetfulness**

“And you’re  _sure_ this is the bag she was looking at?”

“Absolutely certain, Ms. Haruno. Your mother even mentioned that she was always curious about this one, but that there wasn’t anyone tall enough to get it without using a ladder, and she didn’t want to cause anyone trouble.”

Sakura inspected the item he presented carefully. “Never thought my mother as the Kelly type,” she murmured ruefully.

“Maybe she was just waiting for the tall person to allow her to be,” he found himself saying.

She glanced up at him. She was a short, slight person, with pink hair carefully arranged around her heart-shaped face. Her eyes were smart and kind, and everything she wore looked expensive, and probably was. He could see she was amused. “Funny,” she said, smiling, “Didn’t know Hermes required a stand-up comedy in their requirements when getting employees.”

“I didn’t include it in my CV. Probably how I got in,” he supplied helpfully. He didn’t even know Hermes from hairspray before he got this job. But it was all worth it the moment she stepped in the shop. He’d been wondering how he’d go about asking her out since last week.

“Maybe I could interest you in a baseball bat? Hermes has a lovely one, and it would make for a very unique gift.” Damn. There was a trace of nervousness in his voice, and he could already feel her losing interest in the Kelly bag, in him. Suddenly he felt old and ugly and just lame and…

“No, thank you,” she lightly pushed the bag back to him, smiling politely. “Thank you for all your help…”

“Kakashi,” he said.

“Kakashi,” he could practically see her filing the name at the back of her head for reference. “I’ll think about it.” For one second he thought he’d already asked her out, but he remembered that she was referring to the bag.

“Have a good day,” he called out, but she had already exited the store.

He was putting the bag back when he noticed a slip of paper sticking out from underneath it. Ms. Haruno must’ve had left it behind. Curious, he pulled it out:

> _Dear Mr./Ms./ Mrs. Haruno,_
> 
> _Mr. /Ms. Kakashi Hatake has had Mr./Ms. Sakura Haruno erased from his memory. Please never mention their relationship to her/him again._
> 
> _Thank you._
> 
> _Lacuna Inc._

**7 – Lost**

She had envisioned her vacation in Paris as dreamlike and ideal, but for all her preparation, Sakura didn’t expect her phone to mysteriously lose its battery, and for her friend to go ahead without her.

She brandished her map of the city like a weapon. Who to go to? She spotted a rather distinguished-looking gentleman sitting outside one of the nearby cafes, glasses propped on the bridge of his nose, reading the paper.

She was usually shy when approaching strangers, but this was an emergency. “Excuse me—Excusez moi—“ she didn’t really try with the accent, and the man raised one silvery brow at her. “Do you speak English?” she finally burst out in irritation. She had heard that French people could be quite snooty with their accent.

“Je ne parle pas anlglais?”

“Please, I just need to find—“

He raised one hand up, brooking no protest. But instead of turning away to ignore her altogether, he put two hands on her shoulders, guiding her until she sat on the seat opposite him. “Just wait—“ he finally said, in a thick French accent. “Just wait. They come.” He gestured to the empty cup in front of him. “Uhh—‘ow you say this—café? Vous voulez de café?”

“I’m sorry sir, but I really don’t have the time—“

“Ino—your friend, oui? Elle me connaît,” he pointed to himself, as if he expected her to understand. It was good enough, Sakura thought as she carefully folded her map. It was broad daylight, and there were people around…but she wasn’t going to drink that coffee, polite or no.

“Ino—I know her father. Je sais que son père,” he added, as if that explained anything.

That Ino was going to get voules-vou’d up her ass if Sakura had any say on how the day was going to go. She sighed and took a good look at café dude. It was really too bad he was being weird. He was kind of cute. She took a peek at the map again, just to orient herself.  The man seemed content to let Sakura just sit there, and didn’t even protest when the coffee went cold.

After several minutes, Ino herself appeared. She wore a beatific smile, like she hadn’t just ditched her best friend who was a stone’s throw away from getting lost and mugged in Paris.

“Sakura!  I went out to get some croissants!” Ino exclaimed. Her blue eyes quickly darted to their companion. “I see you’ve met my neighbour, Mr. Kakashi Hatake.”

“’Ello,” Kakashi made a small wave at the newcomer. At her arrival, he talked rapid French to Ino and made his exit.

“I can’t believe you ditched me!” Sakura hissed furiously when she was sure that the man was out of earshot. “And why is his name not French?”

“I got you breakfast, Forehead. You’re welcome. And I don’t know what the deal with that guy is either. My dad knows him but I’ve never seen that guy talk to anyone else. And this is the first time he’s actually spoken to me, to be honest.”

“Weird,” Sakura said softly. But she brushed it aside and brought her map upfront. “So! I really wanted to see like, everything. I’m kinda on a tight schedule since my flight back home is tomorrow…”

**8 – Secret**

She’d made him handmade chocolates for Valentine’s Day, but she was too chicken to say it came from her.

This unfortunate tendency towards shyness continued until graduation day, and even by then, it was too late.

The last Sakura had heard of Kakashi, he was happily married with two small children.

**9 – On Time**

“You just have to suck it up and push it in, Kakashi.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Too late—it’s a dislocated shoulder. It’s already hurting.”

She had a point. And it wasn’t like he’d never punched her like he meant it during all those training sessions ago. But now she wasn’t fighting back and this just felt—-

“JUST DO IT!” Sakura yelled.

He grasped her shoulder with two hands, getting a firm grip, locating where the socket should go by sensation alone, and then pushed it back in.

“GODFUCKINGDAM—“ Sakura roared angrily, before Kakashi pulled her into a hug, muffling the expletives into his chest.

“There, there,” he said comfortingly, patting her shoulder. When the tense shoulders finally relaxed, he allowed her to pull back from him. Eyes closed, she raised her good arm to apply her healing chakra over the dislocated shoulder.

He let her be. “That thing aside, I’d say the mission went pretty well, I think.”

“You mean chasing Hanabi’s rabbit back? Tch! I can’t believe they ranked that an A-mission because it’s a Hyuga rabbit. What’s Tsunade-sama even thinking?” He was using his calm and “I’m the reasonable one here” voice and that irritated her.

“You know as well as I do that missions don’t get always ranked by difficulty. They become priority depending on how much the client’s willing to pay. And let me add, for all your complaining about this mission, it didn’t stop you from going all-out on it, hence dislocating your arm.”

She ignored this. “I just don’t understand why they’d put a kage bunshin on a rabbit and then let it roam free? If the Hyuugas just wanted to make a hefty donation, they shouldn’t have made this joke of a mission,” Sakura groused.

“It’s their money,” Kakashi said, shrugging lazily. He touched her shoulder gently. “How’s that feeling?”

“Better now, thanks.”

They sat in companionable silence for a while, save for the usual sounds of Konoha’s woods.

“We make a good team, you and I,” Kakashi finally said at length.

Sakura closed her eyes and leaned against a tree. “You sound surprised.”

“That shouldn’t be surprising. My surprise, I mean. I hardly ever paired up with you.”

She cracked one eye open. “And whose fault you think was that? You always favoured Sasuke, and later when he was gone, Naruto. And when neither were around, you went off your own, doing god knows what.” She didn’t want to sound bitter, but she couldn’t help the rising volume of her voice.

Kakashi must’ve noticed it too. “But I’m recognizing it now, and that’s the important thing.”

“Yes you do sound very impressed. I’m honoured and overwhelmed by your recognition,” Sakura murmured as she resumed her resting position.

“I always seem to be missing you, overlooking you. That seems to be my greatest fault.”

“Well, if we’re talking FAULTS here…”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Kakashi sounded irritable for once. “Can’t you just take a compliment, Sakura?”

“Nope, learned not to put much stock into it, it just messes with your head.” She gestured very aggressively around her general head area to put emphasis on it.

“How sad, your generation of cynics.”

“Says the man who’s been insincere and lying about his lateness all my life,” Sakura let out a short laugh. “Now shockingly wants me to take him at face value.”

“Why are you so mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you!” Sakura’s eyes fluttered open, shocked at this accusation. “It’s just that it feels like you’re trying to strike up a friendship that we’ve never had, alright? And you really don’t have to. I get it, okay? You don’t notice me, and you were never just interested. Just…leave it at that.”

She closed her eyes again and let her fall back again with a small  _thunk._ It occurred to him how little he knew about how he had hurt Sakura in his own careless way, and that he had missed the coming of age of a magnificent shinobi in the process. She was right, of course—Sakura was hardly the type of person who would make such emotional accusations nowadays, but even when she did, she was almost always right on the money anyway.  

But…

“You’re wrong, you know.”

“About what?”

“I do…notice you.”

She hummed noncommittally.

“Your hair’s getting to that length where it’s bothersome for you,” Kakashi began. “You’re going to make plans to have it properly cut, but as per usual, you’re going to do it yourself because you’ve overloaded your schedule with the hospital once again.”

“Hand the man a trophy, we have a winner,” Sakura said softly.

“I know about all the times you insisted on rescuing me, whenever I was in trouble,” Kakashi added, starting to feel annoyed at Sakura despite himself. “And—and when I landed in the hospital, you were always the first person to visit me and the last person to check up on me before I was released. You also did a very clever thing with my mask so to ensure people wouldn’t look at my face while I was knocked out. You were always mindful of my wishes even when you were curious, yourself.”

Sakura didn’t reply at this, but had gone very still, eyes still closed.

“And after Sasuke left, you cried every day for a year, and you didn’t want anyone to know,” he finished.

She shot up, her back straight as an arrow. “How could you know that?”

He met her gaze frankly. “You’re still Team 7 and I had to look after you…”

“I know that!” Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “You knew it all that time and you didn’t do anything, you didn’t say anything?! You—you and Naruto left me all alone, Kakashi! Why tell me this now? I needed you back then!”

She was going to run away, and he gripped her good arm tightly to prevent her from doing so. “I’m sorry, alright?! I’m sorry. I just…”

“What, you just didn’t want to deal with silly old Sakura and her little schoolgirl crush?” There was no denying the bitterness in her tone now. She raised her arm to shake him free, but he clung on stubbornly.

“It wasn’t like that at all!” He was getting aggravated despite himself.

“Then what was it like, Kakashi? Because I would LOVE to know!” Sakura said harshly. Her bright green eyes were burning with anger now. “You think I’m going to have any sympathy for you? Well guess what, I really am mad at you now!”

“I just didn’t think I was good enough,” Kakashi said softly.

Sakura snorted. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“I just—“ he struggled to find the words, and he could see that Sakura’s patience was wearing thin. How could he make her understand? “After Sasuke abandoned Konoha, I felt like letting you and Naruto go was the best option. If Sasuke hadn’t left, I wouldn’t allow you to train under anyone else, Sannin or not, but…after Sasuke I just felt like everything I touched went to dust. I—I couldn’t let that happen to you two. And even after you stayed in Konoha I thought…well I thought, we spent the least time together, didn’t we? You wouldn’t miss your foolish old teacher who did nothing but disappoint you.”

He expected an angry response from Sakura, but he was unprepared when she launched herself at him, holding him very tightly.  

“You—you stupid idiot! I needed you! You don’t know how much!” she sobbed into his shirt.

She seemed so fragile and breakable. “I know Sakura—I’m sorry. I see I did it all wrong now.”

She drew back and he couldn’t help but rub his fingers against her tear-stained cheek. She laughed at the gesture. “We’re Team 7, okay? We stick together, whatever happens.”

“I’m sorry, Sakura.”

She sniffled. “It’s alright,” she said. And he knew she meant it. He put an arm around her and drew her closer.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“And you’re not that old!” she whined. He chuckled at that.

They sat like that for a while, Kakashi’s cheek resting against Sakura’s head. And that…that felt right, in an odd sort of way. Neither of them wanted to break the peace that they had just won, and he wasn’t going to make the first move. He could feel Sakura drifting off, her hands folded neatly at her lap. He would never overlook her again, he promised himself. He’d always keep an eye out for her.

As he drifted off to sleep, Kakashi had the strangest but most comforting sensation of, for once, so certainly, being on time.


End file.
